The consumer 3D printing market is evolving rapidly, with increasingly high-performance, affordable machines. Among the new products recently launched, the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo stands out with its closed design, CoreXY architecture, compatibility with the ACE Pro multi-material station and its particularly competitive price.
Anycubic has been present on the 3D printing market for ten years, with desktop machines designed mainly for home users, including both FDM machines and resin printers. The current range of FDM printers includes the Kobra 2, the Kobra 3 and now the top-of-the-range Kobra S1. It is clearly part of this new generation of closed CoreXY printers inspired by models such as the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon, with specifications and format now widely adopted by several manufacturers.
Unpacking the Anycubic Kobra S1 3D Printer
When opening the package, users will discover a desktop machine with a print volume of 250 x 250 x 250 mm, sufficient for most print jobs yet still compact. The printer is fully enclosed, helping to stabilize temperature and protect prints from drafts. Note, however, that the chamber is not actively heated, which limits high-temperature printing of technical materials, but is still sufficient for PLA, PETG, ASA or even nylon.
The printer is well protected by foam in the box, and opening the top cover of the Kobra S1 reveals the ACE Pro multi-material station (in the Combo version). The printer is virtually ready to use, with only a few components to be released (the build plate, axes and ACE Pro are held in place by screws during transport)
The Anycubic Kobra S1 and the ACE Pro have a rather minimalist, modern look despite a plastic exterior
The build quality is top-notch, with a metal internal structure ensuring rigidity, while the plastic outer panels reduce the machine’s overall cost. The transparent plastic front door and top cover provide good visibility of the printing process, and despite its very plastic finishes, the printer appears robust and well finished.
The internal metal chassis ensures good structural rigidity, and despite the plastic exterior, the finish is clean and robust. There’s also a metal hotend with direct-drive extruder, compatible with most standard materials. It should be noted, however, that the nozzle supplied is made of brass, and therefore incompatible with abrasive filaments (carbon, wood, glow-in-the-dark), but the manufacturer assures us that hardened steel nozzles will be offered shortly.
The printer arrives completely pre-assembled, apart from the spool holder, which can be installed if required (not necessary if using the ACE Pro.) Initial set-up involves just a few simple steps to release the safety devices and connect the accessories, then the machine is ready for use.
The Kobra S1’s swivel display makes it easy to control the printer
Once the printer is out of its box, the ACE and accessory box are integrated into the printer’s closed enclosure. When the accessory box is removed, it contains: one PLA sample, three Allen wrenches, a needle (for unclogging the nozzles), a magnetic steel build plate with PEI coating, grease, an activated carbon filter, a spare nozzle cleaning module, clips to hold the PTFE tubes and the ACE cable, and a USB. The Core XY motion system uses steel rods for the X and Y axes. The Z axis is equipped with three steel rods and three worm screws.
Inside the machine, there’s an LED bar that illuminates the entire print volume, a camera for monitoring prints, an auxiliary fan on the right-hand side of the platen and an activated carbon filter that rejects filtered air outside the printer. At the top of the printer, a tilting 4.3″ touch screen provides easy access to printer controls and settings.
Kobra S1 Installation and Start Up
Once the Kobra S1 has been unpacked and freed from its screws and other transport securing devices, it is ready to be plugged in and started up. If using the ACE Pro, it can be connected before starting up the machine for the first time, which is what we did. Of course, it is also possible to connect the ACE Pro at a later date.
To connect the ACE Pro to the printer, you need to install the connection module, which guides the 4 filaments into the PTFE tube of the Kobra S1, and connect the PTFE tube of the printer to it, as well as the 4 of the ACE Pro. The connection module and ACE Pro are then plugged into the printer, and the ACE Pro is ready for use with the printer.
The Kobra S1 calibrates automatically in just a few minutes to ensure optimum print results
Getting started is simple, thanks to the intuitive touchscreen on the top panel. The calibration process is automated and guided for parts requiring user interaction. During calibration, the printer can be connected to Wi-Fi, then undergoes auto-leveling, automatic detection of resonance frequency in order to compensate and the Kobra S1 can then be connected to an Anycubic account for remote off-grid control over the slicer and connection to the mobile app.
However, on the first print attempt, an error message appeared indicating an inability to extrude the filament. After consulting the Anycubic wiki, I discovered that the ACE Pro’s four filament buffers were installed upside down. Once corrected, printing started without a hitch.
Anycubic Slicer Next Slicer and Anycubic Mobile App
The printer’s touchscreen provides a clear, responsive interface for starting prints, calibrating the machine and managing essential parameters. Navigation is smooth and not overbearing.
The Kobra S1 is connected to Wi-Fi and Anycubic’s cloud, allowing you to start and control prints remotely, as well as configure the filaments installed
The Anycubic Kobra S1 is compatible with Anycubic’s OrcaSlicer-based slicer, Anycubic Slicer Next. Similar to OrcaSlicer and Bambu Studio, it enables remote control and monitoring of prints, as well as definition of materials installed in the ACE Pro.
Although we have already received a number of updates during our test, some including new print profiles and materials, there is still room for improvement. This is especially the case for slicing profiles.
The printer can monitor printouts autonomously using its camera, and detect printing errors such as spaghetti to interrupt printing. To use this feature, you need to activate it before each print, as the slicer disables it by default, and it seems impossible to activate it by default. Please note that we had some false positives during our tests. Other monitoring functions are still enabled, such as hotend clog detection.
The mobile application enables remote monitoring and control of prints. It also provides access to MakerOnline, Anycubic’s 3D model-sharing platform. However, the ability to print directly from the app remains, for the moment, limited, often requiring a passage through the slicer on the computer.
While the consumer 3D printing market has come a long way recently, particularly in terms of hardware, it seems that there’s still some way to go before many manufacturers can really take advantage of the full performance of their printers.
The ACE Pro multi-material system makes it easy to change filaments, thanks in particular to the RFID chips present on the manufacturer’s spools, which allow them to be automatically recognized by the 3D printer.
Most machines like the S1, or others from various manufacturers, use a different version of OrcaSlicer and a similar mobile app, they all have a similar 3D model sharing platform too. While this situation is nothing new with all the Cura derivatives and many different platforms like Printables, Thingiverse, Thangs and others, it would seem that the market is more dissipated than ever before and it could probably be beneficial for all if the whole market, albeit made up of competitors, found common ground and shared a common slicer and who knows, maybe even an app. This would make things easier for those of us who use several printer brands, although there aren’t that many of us, but it could also potentially reduce the effort needed for companies to develop tailor-made solutions, thus ensuring that the full range of features is actually functional.
First Prints
The PLA prints went off without a hitch, and we were able to print a variety of designs ranging from architecture and interior design to figurines, keyrings and storage accessories. The prints had a good surface quality, and the printer ensured good dimensional accuracy. In terms of printing with supports, these were easy to remove. The ABS print also went well, but the first one warped and came off the build plate. By increasing the heating temperature, the next print was successful and the part was correctly reproduced.
Nylon printing also went smoothly, despite the absence of an actively heated chamber. It should be noted, however, that no nylon material profile was available on Anycubic Slicer Next at the time of our test; we therefore used OrcaSlicer to print Nylon, since this slicing software integrates material profiles for nylon as well as printing profiles for the Anycubic Kobra S1.
The Anycubic Kobra S1 has a print volume of 250 by 250 by 250 mm
Compatibility with the ACE Pro multi-material station makes it possible to have several filaments ready for use (up to four spools with one ACE Pro or either with a second), simplifying material changes and reducing manual intervention. However, the shrink-and-purge filament change system can be slow and wasteful, making it less suitable for complex multicolor printing.
As with its competitors’ multi-material systems, Anycubic’s ACE Pro is incompatible with abrasive and flexible filaments.T ≈o print these materials, you’ll need to install the supplied spool holder and short-circuit the ACE Pro.